How to Interupt & Inspire Shoppers in Store

29th June 2015

Our brand new CTP convenience research has found that the level of impulse purchasing in convenience stores is at an impressive 5 year high. An astounding 18% of shoppers say they bought an item they hadn’t arrived intending to buy, up from 15% last year and 14% in 2013. This is fantastic news for the convenience sector.

So what are retailers and suppliers doing to drive this level of impulsive purchasing? Interrupting shopping behaviour in a convenience store is no easy task; 3-in-4 shoppers want to get in and out as quickly as possible and a breath-taking 42% don’t notice any communications or signage in-store. But we’ve seen both retailers and suppliers putting a real focus on ‘interrupting and inspiring’ their shoppers in-store in order to disrupt this auto-pilot behaviour.

The number one driver of impulse purchasing is promotions, according to shoppers. But it’s not just the cost saving which tempts shoppers. The focus and visibility given to promotional products help the get noticed by shoppers.

Many retailers are also offering cross category promotions to drive cross category impulse purchases. We know that many shoppers aren’t buying the obvious associated categories in c-stores. For example 58% of shoppers who are in store to buy lunch-to-go aren’t buying a soft drink. 95% of ‘meal for tonight’ shoppers DON’T buy any kind of dessert. Simple yet impactful displays which include total meal solutions will help interrupt and inspire your shoppers.

One key area which retailers and suppliers really shouldn’t ignore, when trying to drive impulse purchasing, is the till and queue area. 1-in-10 impulse shoppers pick up the product from this area of store. Make sure it’s an area which gets plenty of your thought and attention as it’s the one area which all shoppers will visit. In fact 1-in-5 shoppers ONLY go to till area, so it really is hot property.